SOME REAL WAR-BABIES.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE SPECTATOR:] Sru,—Early in the war much nonsense was talked about "war- babies." We were told that legions were coming, and that we must provide food and clothing and education for them, and aureoles for their mothers, and absolution for their fathers, Happily, these babies were mythical. I ask for help for some real war-babies, in Notting Dale. It is not a pleasant birth- place. But the war has done great good to Notting Dale. Many of the less desirable dalesmen have joined the Army, and many of the women are doing regular well-paid Government work. There is less poverty, less drink, lcza idleness. The women are working for the War Office and the Admiralty. They occupy a huge and wonderful building ; the vasty halls are well lighted and well warmed, and the glass roofs are shaded with enormous velaria. The many tons of stuff daily handled, the whirring motor-driven sewing-machines, the interminable lines of heaped-up made goods, the prodigious arrangements for meals, the bewildering immensity of intake and output—these must be seen, for they surpass description. And the life of this beneficent Colossus ! Seven thousand lives working as one : day-shift, night-shift, the one legion of workers going out as the other legion comes in ; and all the seven thousand lives so well cared for, and so well paid, that the Colossus is defending not only the cause of the Allies but the cause of the poor ; and if there could be forty-eight hours instead of twenty-four in a day and a night, there would be food and warmth and comfort and work not for seven thousand but for fourteen thousand. But who is to look after their children this winter ? The women out at work all day cannot ; neither can they who are out at work all night, for they must sleep by day. One of these was asked, "What do you do with the children while you are sleep- ing 1 " The answer was, " Oh, they just play about the room." That is hard on her, and on them. The fathers are fighting for us, the mothers are working for us. The State cannot look after these babes, it is too busy : they must depend on "private charity." What they want is a creche. The ladies of the Lancaster Road School for Mothers appeal for £200 to furnish five rooms in the school, which at present are let to lodgers, and to pay a nurse, and to provide a few necessaries. Donations should be sent either to Lady Macdonell, 31 Kensington Park Gardens, W., or to me, 21 Ladbroke Square, W. Long ago the school won the approval of the women of Notting Dale. They bring their children to be looked after, doctored, taught nice ways, and amused ; and they come themselves to learn sewing and dressmaking and simple rules of health and of housekeeping, and to enjoy sympathy and friendship and peace of mind. So everything is ready for the one thing which will bring the work of the school up to the needs of the war. The £200 will furnish and maintain a really good large creche. No pauperizing here : for the women will contribute to the cost of food and fuel. No patronizing, either : for the school was founded, years ago, on something better than that. And the children must, really must, be helped through this winter, warmed and mothered and doctored, for we shall be wanting all the children that there are after the war.—I am, Sir, &c., 21 LadbroA-e Square, W. STEPHEN FACET. [Mr. Stephen Paget's name is ample warrant that the scheme is sound and practical ad not a war chimera.—En. Spectator.]
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